Unsteady Earth
by kusaribe
Summary: After Amon's defeat, Bolin seeks Lin Beifong and requests for her to teach him metal bending. But are the fundamentals of metal bending the only thing Lin will teach Bolin?


_C'mon Bolin, it's now or never!_ Bolin mused to himself before he inhaled deeply and knocked on the door sharply three times. Dead silence fell upon him as he rocked back and forth on his feet nervously. _Maybe I'm just wasting my time…_He gave a discouraged sigh, turned around, and began walking towards the stairs.

"Bolin, is that you?" a sleepy voice questioned from the door.

"Ah! Chief Beifong!" A huge grin spread across Bolin's face as he raced back towards the door. "Well, I guess you're not chief anymore, but I feel weird calling you just Beifong, or even Lin for that matter! We don't know each other that well so I guess—"

"Why did you come here so early in the morning?" Lin demanded. She rubbed her tired eyes and said, "I know it wasn't to pester me about formalities."

Bolin straightened his shoulders, nodded his head quickly and bowed deeply. "I would be honored if you would become my metal bending instructor," Bolin stated, keeping his head low.

Lin gave an irritated sigh and slammed her door. She yelled from behind the door, "There are metal bending schools for that. I have no reason to be your instructor."

Bolin shot up and lightly pressed his fist against the door. "I thought of that before but the metal bending academy isn't exactly in my budget. Please, it would mean the world to me!"

It was silent for a moment and Bolin felt defeat wash over him. _I knew it would be pointless to come here._ He thought to himself as he turned around. _As if she would teach me personally…_

The door opened again, just an inch. Lin looked out from the crack and cleared her throat. "Come by again tomorrow," she said, "and we'll get started."

Bolin squealed with delight and he tried up to hug her, only to find Lin's palm, slammed in his face. She said firmly, "Please don't do that." She turned in the doorway, saying, "Also, don't come by so early in the morning. I need my sleep and so do you."

"Yes ma'am! Thank you so much chief—I mean Master Beifong! I'll see you tomorrow and thank you again!" Bolin cried out happily as he raced down the stairs, cheering and hooting to himself the whole way down.

"I wonder what made him want to learn metal bending, especially from me personally instead of going to the school." She stifled a yawn and closed her door. "No matter, I'll find out soon enough I suppose."

* * *

"Before we begin, do you know what metal bending is?" Lin asked as she spread out sheets of metal all around the room.

"Uh, bending with metal?" Bolin replied with a hopeful smile.

"That's not what I meant," Lin said sharply. "I mean, do you understand how metal bending works?"

"To be honest, I don't have a clue!"

"Figures," Lin sighed as she sat across from Bolin and picked up a piece of metal. "Do you even know what metal is?"

"Um…"

"Metal is earth that has been simply purified and refined. As a metal bender, you have to find the remaining traces of earth within the metal in order to utilize it," Lin said as she held the metal in front of her. "In order to do this, you have to gather up all your chi into your gut, heating up your center with your fighting energy." Lin closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She continued, "This focusing will help improve your senses so that you can feel the earth impurities within the metal." With that, she closed her fist, and the metal crumpled into a ball.

"Well, that sounds easy enough," Bolin said with an optimistic tone. "Let me try it out!"

"Hold on, there's more to it," Lin stated. "The actual process of metal bending requires much more than this out of its users, and you must be ready to become more than what you are expected to be. Otherwise, you will fail to acquire a spiritual self-identification with the metal-purifying process."

Bolin scratched his head for a moment before clapping his hands together and shooting up from his seat. "Okay! I think I got the gist of it down!" He grinned and cracked his knuckles. "Let's get practicing!"

* * *

After attempting to metal bend a few dozen times, Bolin crashed on the floor and wiped the sweat from his forehead. He covered his eyes with his arm and heaved a heavy sigh.

"Man, this is a lot harder than it looks," he grumbled through huffs of breath. He gently rubbed his bruising fists.

"Well what did you expect?" Lin sharply retorted. "It's a process that takes time to understand. I didn't master it right away and neither did my mother." She tossed him a towel to clean himself up. "Don't force yourself too much, you'll wear yourself out."

Bolin didn't speak for a moment, letting his labored breathing slowly become relaxed. Finally, he sat up and buried his face in his hands. Lin looked at him, frustrated.

"Can I tell you something?" Bolin asked his tone uneasy.

Lin shrugged her shoulders. "I can't stop you from talking, can I?"

Bolin lifted his head from his hands and gave a weak smile. "Back when Amon attacked us, I felt so useless. We would have been stuck in that cell for a while if Naga hadn't have found us." He looked down, his hands clenched into fists. He said, "The whole time I was thinking to myself, 'If only you could metal bend! You could save everyone here and help out more in the fights!'" Bolin looked away, his eyes not meeting Lin's. He said in a defeated voice, "I felt like a waste of space."

Lin frowned and stood up, looking down on Bolin. "Take that feeling of worthlessness and turn it into your motivation," she told him. "Work yourself to the bone so that if situations like that arise again, you will be ready and prepared to fight and help your friends."

Bolin muttered something under his breath. Lin rolled her eyes and said, "Speak up boy; I can't hear you when you mumble."

Bolin glanced up and shrugged. "Even if I do try my hardest and learn how to metal bend, I feel like I'll always be second to Mako."

"What makes you say that?" Lin questioned.

Bolin grabbed the towel and wiped his forehead again, this time wiping his eyes a little in the process. "Mako knew how I felt about Korra. He knew how much I liked her and yet, he still went after her. I felt betrayed and feeling that from your own brother—my only remaining relative— is the worst feeling ever. And as if that's not worse, Korra liked him too. The whole time I was thinking 'What does Mako have that I don't? What makes Mako better than me?'"

"Well, I can name a few things." Lin said with a shrug of her shoulders.

"Gee, thanks for the pep talk," Bolin muttered sarcastically as he stood up and walked towards the punching bag. "Thanks for the today's lesson but I think I'll do some strength training on my own."

"As you wish," Lin replied as she began to pick up the sheets of metal.

It was silent between the two; the only sound was Bolin's heavy fists slamming into the punching bag. Lin walked away, her hand resting on the door to the gym. But something in her caused her to remain, some foreign emotion welling up inside her. Bolin gave the bag one final punch before letting his hand fall in frustration.

Lin's fingers lingered on the gym door handles. "Bolin, no matter what you may think at times, there are people who love you, and people who care about you, and if you truly want to master metal bending, you have to learn to open up to them, and tell them what you're feeling." She pushed the door open as light flooded the dim lit training area. "Only then," she called over her shoulder, "can you truly be at peace with yourself."

The heavy metal door slammed shut and echoed throughout the gym. Bolin stared at the door with wide eyes, shocked by the first sign of emotion from the chief, and then, he looked at the floor and grinned. With encouragement soaring through his veins, Bolin cracked his knuckles and began punching the punching bag, visions of mastering metal bending (and his emotions) flying through his mind.


End file.
